The Underground of Happiness

I’ve mentioned this on the socials recently but I wanted to highlight it here also. It’s a radio documentary made by a good friend of mine Paul McDermott – you’ll find him around here under Songs To Learn and Sing – about the Cork band Microdisney . I say Cork band – and there’s no doubt they are from here – but plenty of their many many fans probably don’t think of them in that way. What they certainly are is an intriguing, important, sometimes infuriating pop group and Paul’s painstaking piece of work is the definitive document of their life and times. It features in depth interviews with Cathal Coughlan and Sean O’Hagan (as well as dozens of others) whose insights add a huge amount to understanding the band’s music. By the way this is Paul’s third documentary that deals with the Cork post punk scene of the early 1980s that centred around the Arcadia venue. Check his documentaries about Nun Attax/Five Go Down To The Sea? and Stump – they are very much companion p...

And to finish off this strange July a first digital release for a little treasure from 1981. Kaught at the Kampus is a somewhat legendary title for people of a certain vintage. Those who remember the Arcadia Ballroom which was the kind of pre-Henry’s Sir Henry’s in Cork. A rock venue that played host to the fledgling U2 as well as The Cure, UB40 and plenty of other worthy names of the time. This Downtown Campus was run by Elvera Butler who persuaded the leading Cork bands of 1981 to be part of a live recording. It’s a live EP recorded at Elvera’s UCC gig Downtown Kampus, features tracks by post-punk bands such as Nun Attax, Mean Features, Urban Blitz and the original line-up of Mircodisney. Finbarr Donnelly and Ricky Dineen of Nun Attax went on to form Five Go Down To The Sea and later Beethoven before Donnelly died tragically in London. Mean Features included singer Mick Lynch who went on to front Stump. And of course Microdisney “spawned” Fatima Mansions and Hi...